CYPHER
by roulechausettes
Summary: It has been sixteen years since the defeat of the D-Reaper, and the Digital World has gotten closer than ever to the real world, causing digimon to begin to bio-emerge once again, bringing fears of chaos amongst the original tamers and Hypnos. However, far from Japan, a group of tamers with unique powers emerges...
1. CYPHER

**authors note:**

 **i'd lie and say that this was spur of the moment and came from me suddenly, like athena sprouting from zeus' head, but the truth is, this story has been with me for a long _long_ time (2014-2015ish), and has mutated several times within my mind, so... here goes...!**

 **(chapter and story title is from the cypher series of songs by bts)**

 **enjoy!**

* * *

 **CYPHER**

 **UNE**

"Now we turn to Japan, where it has been sixteen years since the D-Reaper attacks on Tokyo, which killed over 500 people in one of the worst attacks on Japanese soil..."

Camille pinches the bridge of her nose, breathing a cool breath in, then out, before resting her head on the wooden counter in front of her. The urge to bolt into the closet, lock herself in, and hide in the corner is nearly overwhelming. Her hands shake against the counter, and she feels a cold sweat wash over her body. Briefly, she closes her eyes, before opening them again, and scanning over the tiny, colorful cafe. No one is sitting at the dark, wooden tables, newspapers flung across them in disarray, and from what she can see of the hustle and bustle outside, no one is coming in. She has the whole place to herself.

So, she decides to treat herself to try and stave off some sort of attack, and turns on the shiny new espresso machine. Grabbing a carton of cream from the fridge, she makes herself a latte in an attempt to distract herself from listening to NPR playing over the speakers. However, part of her breaks her own rules, and she ends up listening intently to the report on the D-Reaper attacks.

"The virus manifested itself in different forms to wreck havoc, classified as 'agents' by the Japanese government computer intelligence division 'Hypnos'..."

Camille can hear the monotone voice of her therapist nagging her already, for deliberately letting herself listen to something that could kickstart a particularly violent episode. That she _knows_ that reading or watching news stories about mass murder reminds her of **it** (of screaming, exhaustion, and the stench of sulfur), and knows that the D-Reaper attack being shown on TV was a trigger for an extremely painful panic attack once before. Any event like that always is one.

With a shake of her head, Camille clears her thoughts. Focus, she thinks, focus on your latte, not the D-Reaper or your therapist. She picks up the white mug resting on the espresso machine, and sniffs at the coffee, blowing on it before taking a sip. The warmth and flavor of the drink calm her down, backing her away from an attack, and she lets a breath out of her nose.

Out of her ear, she can hear the tiny little bell above the door ring as someone steps inside the cafe. Camille glances up, adjusting her black, round glasses with a push of her index finger.

"Hello, Ms. Tologanak!"

It's one of the dishwashers, Ron, a scrawny little teenager, with brown skin and still wearing his high school's fancy uniform, carrying his slacks and messy shirt on his arm. He slips behind the counter and tucks his bag in a little cubby for the employee's personal goods.

"Hey," Camille smiles, waving at the kid. "You working closing today too?"

Ron nods, glances over at the cup in her hand and frowns.

"Bad day?" he asks, and Camille nods glumly.

"Yeah," she sighs, adjusting her short hair. Camille smiles crookedly at the boy. "Don't tell our boss."

Ron snorts, heading towards the kitchen, a small metal room with a large assortment of pots and pans.

"I won't!" he laughs, before turning towards her with a grin. "Just finish that up fast!"

Camille snorts, taking another sip of her coffee as he shuts the door behind him. Something, a glint of light in an open drawer, catches her eye. Walking over, the woman spots some sort of… old card reader, with a set of cards next to it. She gently picks up one card, and flips it over. On it, is a design of a large, wolf-like creature, white with blue stripes, roaring with a confident expression, the text above it reading "GARURUMON". Camille feels a small smile grow on her face.

"Hey, Ron?"

"Yeah?" he shouts, peeking out of the kitchen door. Camille turns to him, flashing the cards.

"Whose cards are these?"

"Oh, the new cashier lady got them… Amy, I think," Ron smiles, running his hands through his short hair. "Probably left them here, or whatever. She's big into that Digimon card game. Why are you asking?"

"Used to play the game as a kid," Camille grins, and Ron raises his eyebrows. "Was pretty good at it too! My parents would ship me off to tournaments and shit."

(She omits the fact that Digimon trading cards in Québécois French were one of the few things she still has from foster care in Montreal.)

(He doesn't need to hear that.)

"Really?" Ron says, drumming his fingers on the metal door. "I never really got into it when I was a kid. But, it looks like it's coming back into style, my little cousins just started playing it seriously. Said that there are professional players and shit now."

"Well, maybe I'll go professional then. Become a big name Digimon player or something. Make lots of money."

"Well, don't forget about all us regular folks!" Ron laughs loudly, crossing his arms. He shuts the metal door, and a quiet falls over the cafe. Camille sighs, puts the cards back, and looks around the cafe, aimlessly tapping her foot until she hears the chime of the bell again, and gets to work.

A few hours of serving hipsters and business people later, an exhausted Camille flips the 'OPEN' sign to 'CLOSED', leaning against the door for a few seconds. After resting her eyes for a few moments, Camille reaches for the broom resting against the trash can and begins to sweep away dust. Ron opens the door, cleaning off his hands with a white paper towel.

"You know," he says, and Camille looks up at him. "That digimon thing made me remember a rumor from my elementary school days."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Ron nods his head, sitting down on the counter. "There was a rumor going around… like that, digimon were real, and there were real life tamers in Japan or whatever who fought with them."

Camille bursts out into hysterical laughter and has to stop sweeping to collect herself, leaning against a tall, black chair. She covers her forehead with a sweaty palm and takes a few breaths in and out.

"Seriously?" she asks, leaning forward and gaping at Ron. The boy nods vigorously, and Camille laughs again, her shoulders shaking. She slaps her knee repeatedly. "Oh man, that's hilarious! Where did they hear that from, Godzilla? Good god, did they seriously think that a fucking digimon was going to tear through Center City?"

Ron shrugs, a big grin on his face. Camille sniffs loudly, stepping off of the chair, and Ron copies her, heading towards the door, before jolting straight up, and walking back to the counter.

"Well, I'm gonna head out now. All my shit is done, so I'm gonna get some dinner, and get some shopping done," Ron says, picking up his backpack from the cubby. "See you, Ms. Tologanak."

"See you, Ron."

The bell rings as he shuts the door behind him, and Camille sighs painfully. She finishes sweeping up the worn wood floors, locks the display case and back room, wipes down the coffee machines and counter. As she tugs out her black pull string bag from her cubby, a small, weird looking electronic device and a metal bracelet shining in the dim light falls with it, landing with a clunk on the floor.

Camille stares blankly at the items on the floor. Those weren't hers… Were they that new girl's? Doesn't she have a cubby of her own? She shouldn't be leaving her crap in another person's cubby!

Camille gingerly picks up the electronic device and examines it carefully. Its shape is like a rounded triangle, and it has a D-pad with two large buttons to the right and left, and a round screen above the D-pad, in the middle of the device. The device fits in the palm of her hand, and it's a mostly metallic gray, with a bright orange perimeter around the screen, the two buttons are orange as well, and the strap connecting to the device is the same color. Instinctively, she presses on the giant buttons, but instead of something bad happening, there's nothing. No angry beeping, no screen turning on, no bootup sequence, nothing.

Camille hums, and reaches for the bracelet, and picks it up. There's a couple of notches along the front of it and some sort of orange gemstone in the middle. It shines silver with a hint of gold in the light, it practically begs for her to slip it on. She tries to reason with herself, that it was probably someone else's bracelet that cost a lot of money, is she some sort of thief? However, base instincts of 'oooh, shiny thing' prevail, and she slips the bracelet on her wrist.

For a few moments, nothing happens. Camille marvels at the fact that the bracelet near perfectly fits her, rotating her wrist with a small smile. She's brought back into reality by the device suddenly making a loud beeping noise, and she turns to see its screen glowing bright blue, and she feels a jolt of excitement run through her. Grabbing it from the counter, Camille clicks one of the large buttons, opening up a selection screen, and flips through the screen using the D-pad, but other than the blue screen, all the others reading "NO DATA". Huh, she thinks, very peculiar… Is it broken? Did the installation fail, leaving no programs on it? Damn...

The woman huffs angrily and covers her mouth in thought. If she just leaves this stuff here, someone could break in and take it… The bracelet at least looks pretty expensive, and Camille doesn't want to risk someone being upset over it. So, she slings her bag over her back, sticks the device in her pocket, and heads out the door, locking the door and placing the key in her boss's mailbox. Camille shakes her head, as if getting something off of her head, and walks forward, joining the crowds of people walking past the shop.

Her commute home is normal, consisting of looking at fancy storefronts and thinking about going out to Daebak for some barbecue, until she reaches Market Street. As she's waiting to cross the street, large, modern skyscrapers and chattering people heading home from work surrounding her and glinting in the fading daylight as cars rush past, she practically jumps out of her skin when she hears a loud beep from her pocket. Scrambling at her pockets, she pulls out the device and notices some sort of compass on it, a red arrow moving as her hands shake. After steadying herself some, she glances at the compass again, which is now pointing north, albeit with somewhat of a tilt. Oh, she thinks, someone must be looking for this thing through another device, and this is some sort of automatic feature to aid discovery! That's great! She'll just follow this thing down, and explain that she found it at work…! That's right, that's right…

Camille follows the compass on the device, probably looking like some sort of idiot, down a long ass street, past all the restaurants and the closest Wawa as people glance at her with odd expressions, Camille feeling their eyes linger on her back. She hates, hates hates hates, having stares follow her around. Like she's some sort of fuckin' freak show for carrying something odd...

The compass eventually leads her into Rittenhouse Square as darkness begins to set in, a large, peaceful park, full of walkways and dark benches. Bizarrely, a patch of dense fog has set over the park, and Camille blinks and whips her head around. There wasn't any fog coming in while she was walking here, and the weather seems decent when she steps away from the square. However, she just shakes her head dismissively and blames it on her mind playing tricks on her. Time to increase her Seroquel dosage again…

She enters the probably-not-very-foggy square, managing to navigate through the fog without looking like she's visibly hallucinating. No one's really around, even in the early evening, so she probably has nothing to worry about in terms of societal judgement.

The compass stops moving and beeps loudly and somewhat triumphantly as Camille reaches the center of the square. She makes a soft humming noise, cups her hands around her mouth, and calls out.

"Hello?"

No answer. She frowns, before trying again.

"Hello? I got that weird device you're looking for!"

Still, no answer. Camille growls and stamps her foot in the dirt, arms folding across her chest as she paces aimlessly, chattering to herself.

"What a fuckin' bust! Stupid fuckin' thing sends me out in the middle of nowhere so that I can fuckin' prance out here and waste my time on a wild goose hunt. Real fuckin' great. Lucky I didn-"

"Camille?"

The woman jumps straight in the air, head spinning around, looking for the source of the voice. She holds a hand to her chest, trying to calm herself. Sure, the voice might be calling her name, but there's thousands upon thousands of Camilles out there! Camille is a popular name among the French, and maybe some bougie families in the states too…! It's all just a-

"Camille?"

She squats to the ground, covering her face with her hand, the device still in her other. This is not happening. Her body's just immune to her current dosage, that's all. Besides, she thinks, that voice, that weird, North Jersey accent sounds familiar…

"Are you Camille?"

Strikingly familiar…

"Will you fuckin' answer me?"

"Are…" she asks, standing up. The owner of the voice seems so obvious now, and Camille smiles despite herself. "Are you… Danny DeVito?"

"Who's Danny DeVito?"

Camille's eyebrows raise at that remark. You live _here_ , and you don't know who Danny DeVito is? _Really?_

She spots a dark figure approaching in the fog, with small, soft sounding footsteps in the gravel. It's small, only reaching about to her knees, and Camille makes out what appears to be two sets of bunny ears on an upright form, almost like some sort of... digimon.

She internally curses Ron for planting bad ideas into her mind.

Finally, the figure gets close enough for Camille to make it out, and she steps back, her hands shaking. The… creature in front of her looks like a rabbit, if a rabbit was pale pink, could walk on two legs, had big, red eyes, two pairs of ears with large purple stripes, and some sort of… dress-like thing on the bottom of it, obscuring its feet. There's a weird, pink ribbon thing on the front of it, with a little medallion with a moon in the center, partially covering a large, yellow crescent moon across it's chest. In fact, there's moons all over this little thing, on it's head, on its arm, which are currently resting on what Camille assumes to be its hips. Camille gapes at it for a few minutes, unable to think anything beyond the phrase 'what the absolute FUCK'.

"There you are!" it exclaims, looking at her. Its little mouth is wide with a toothy grin, and Camille shivers at the sight of fangs. "You look just like Azulongmon said you would! Why didn't you speak up, and tell me it was you?"

The words come out of her mouth faster than she can stop them.

"What… are you?"

"What am _I_?" the little rabbit thing with Danny DeVito's distinctive and iconic voice asks, squinting at her. "Are you some sort of idiot? Isn't it _obvious_ , Camille? Don't you know who I am? Didn't the Sovereign tell you about me?"

"It… isn't…" she stammers, before regaining her voice. "No! I don't know what you are, how you know my name, and who these 'Sovereign' people are! So please, fuckin' enlighten me!"

"Fine then! Lemme spell this out, real simple," the creature sneers, walking closer to her and poking her knee with its purple claw. It speaks slowly and condescendingly. "I am a digimon, named Lunamon! You are a human, named Camille Romy Tologanak! I was sent here, by the Sovereign, to become your partner!"

"With that bracelet around your wrist, you can transform into a Reaper, and protect this city from evil digimon alongside me! Do you understand now?"

Camille stares, jaw ajar before she finally speaks up.

"...Fuck no!"


	2. GOTTA BE YOU

**chapter title is from 2NE1's song of the same name**

* * *

 **DEUX**

"You really scared us there, Henry. Calling us up at this hour."

A tall, lithe young man, in his twenties, stands in the middle of the main Hypnos control room, staring at the blue screens displaying a map of… something. His face is taut with a mixture of stoicism and anxiety, and he fiddles with the front of his green t-shirt. On his head, rests a small, tan bunny-like creature, peering at the control room with big eyes.

An older man, with blonde hair and wearing a suit and dark sunglasses, stands in front of him.

The only thing breaking their silence is a clicking noise from a lighter in the older man's hand.

"Sorry, sir," the boy, Henry, says, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I-I wasn't expecting him to come back! It's been sixteen years…"

The older man hums in response, clicking his lighter aimlessly. He looks over at the little rabbit digimon, staring at it with a curious expression.

"How'd you come back to the real world?"

"I don't know," the little rabbit digimon says, peering at the older man. "One second I was in the digital world, minding my own business, next second, I was being pushed into this big vortex with a bunch of other digimon by some force! After that, I blacked out."

The man swallows painfully.

He had always feared this. That somehow, there would be a hole or leak of digimon that would lead to their return.

A headache stings between his eyes and the man rubs at it with his index fingers.

"There must be some reason for this…" the man mutters to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Our two worlds are supposed to be separate from each other, ever since the Juggernaut program sent them back…!"

The man's eyes flit back to Henry.

"Have you spoken with Takato?"

Henry shakes his head.

"I haven't spoken with him since he graduated college," he says nervously, running a hand through his dark hair. "I think he's still in Tokyo, though."

"We need to go talk with him, immediately," the man commands, walking forward. "If what Terriermon says is true, that means that there are more digimon on the way."

"And we don't know how dangerous they could be."

* * *

"It smells _awful_ here!"

Lunamon squirms in Camille's arms, hitting her stomach repeatedly with their stubby arms. The woman sighs through her nose, adjusting her hold on the… digimon as she walks down the street, metal scaffolding surrounding the sidewalk, caging them in.

"I hate to break it to you, but it always smells here." she sniffs, peeking up through the bars. The the dark form of the almost complete Technology Center leers high above them, a large yellow maintenance tower on its side. Camille sighs sadly, shaking her head. This whole digimon thing is causing her to lose her fucking mind, leading her away from her apartment instead of towards it. There's plenty of good restaurants by her complex, and yet she's going _here?_

The people who walk around her don't really seem to care that Camille is carrying a squirming living plush toy with the voice of a seventy-two-year-old man. They just glance at her from the sides of their eyes, as if she was just holding a weird bag or something. Camille doesn't know if she wants to feel happy that she's not hallucinating a talking rabbit digimon, or afraid because _she's not hallucinating a talking rabbit digimon_. Lunamon stares back at them, a frown on its tiny little face, but thankfully it keeps its mouth shut.

Camille crosses the street, and walks towards a large rectangular skyscraper, the Comcast Center, and pushes her way through one of the revolving doors, into the building.

Once it is done staring at the door in confusion, Lunamon kicks and squirms in her arms.

"Ow!" she shouts, trying to steady the squirming creature. "What the fuck, dude?"

"Lemme down!" the creature squeals. "I wanna walk, lemme down!

Camille relents, placing it on the gray floor. It stretches its little arms with a groan, and waddles forward with Camille, looking all around. She feels the incredulous stares of business people, walking beside them and glancing up at Camille, as if _she_ could explain why an anthropomorphic bunny was walking amongst them .

"Why are we here, exactly?" Lunamon asks, turning to face Camille with a frown.

"I need to eat something," she grunts, trying her best to ignore the stares of the people around her. Anxiety tugs at her throat, and she knows that she needs to take her meds soon or else. "I can't concentrate on whatever you're going to tell me if I don't eat."

Lunamon makes a humming noise, peering at the surrounding stores with a cautious expression. Camille watches it walk over to one of the stores, peeking through the window, before shaking its head and walking back.

"This place is stupid," the rabbit digimon huffs, crossing its arms. "Couldn't you eat elsewhere? Somewhere… _nice?_ "

"Fuck off, man," Camille growls, running a hand through her hair. "This is a nice place! Besides, you're distracting me."

The woman jumps down the steps, the little rabbit close behind, and opens a glass door. A large, orange food court spans out in front of her, stone floors and loud noise from the TVs around the room. Camille's eyes scan over the large, lit up signs of the various stores. Produce. Chinese food. Pizza. Indian. Ramen. A dizzying amount of options that end up almost causing her to dry heave out of stress, and she stares blankly and unmoving, trying to gather some sort of calm. Lunamon stares at her with an incredulous expression on its face, grabbing one of her fingers in its claws and leading her forward.

Camille finally clears her mind of stress, as the creature leads them to a sushi shop, and grabs a container, pressing it into her hands. Peering at the 'tuna special', Camille sniffs and shrugs, taking it in her hand.

At least that little creature got her sushi that she likes...

Lunamon grabs itself a container, hopefully nothing expensive, and they walk forward in line. Camille spots one of the chefs, a short, stocky woman wearing white slacks, staring at Lunamon with shock on her face. The little digimon's face contorts in a mixture of annoyance and some form of amusement. Before the little rabbit can make a smart remark to her, Camille ushers it forward, smiling fakely at the chef. She gets the two of them bottles of chai tea from the fridge by her side and a Japanese snack that looks like some sort of pancake, which the label proclaims to be 'dorayaki'.

As they finally reach the cashier, a pretty looking girl in her early twenties with dark hair and red glasses, Camille picks Lunamon up, and places it on the counter as she gathers their stuff together. The cashier's face visibly lifts when she sees the little bunny, and grins at it.

"How cute…!" she chimes, gingerly reaching a hand over to the little bunny. Lunamon sighs, and walks closer, letting her pet them. "What's her name?"

"He," Camille says shortly, glancing at the bunny, who is smiling smugly now. "His name is Frank."

Lunamon opens its mouth in protest but abruptly shuts it when Camille places a finger across her lips.

"Frank," the cashier repeats, a tone of wonder to her voice as she fiddles with the cash register. Camille quietly pays, fumbling with her wallet, and the cashier bags up their food. "What a cute little thing you are… Well, have a nice evening, you two."

Camille responds in the same, picks up a squirming Lunamon, and walks over to the nearest table, far from anyone else. After setting down their dinner, the digimon crawls from her arms across the table, and into the metal chair across from hers. It's head is the only thing really visible above the table. With a stubby arm, it grabs its sushi, chopsticks, and drink, gingerly dragging them across the table. It cracks its chopsticks apart, pulls off the top of the sushi container, and picks up a California roll gingerly, like it's some sort of fragile bird, before eating it.

Camille watches the bunny digimon eat its food with a blank expression, before wiping her sweaty face with her hands, and rummages through her bag. She twists open a container of Seroquel, places two oval, wheat yellow, pills in her palm, and downs them with a swig of her tea.

"So," she says, grabbing her chopsticks as well. Lunamon glances up at her. "Are… Are you _really_ a digimon?"

Lunamon snorts and rolls its eyes.

"No, I'm a fucking rabbit named Frank," it snarks, fangs visible in its tiny mouth, and Camille glowers at it. "Yes, I am a digimon! What did you think I was?"

"My meds acting up," Camille says flatly, biting into a tuna roll. "Anyways, now that that's out of the way…"

"Why are you here? You live in the Digital World… right?"

"I was sent here, on a mission," Lunamon sniffs, grabbing the gigantic bottle of tea, uncapping it, and taking a sip from it. "By a group of digimon called the Sovereign."

Camille's eyebrows furrow at the digimon's vague explanation.

"Why were you sent?"

"Well, that's a long story," it says, eating another piece of sushi. "A very long story."

"I have all the time in the world." Camille deadpans, placing her hand against her cheek.

"Okay, okay," Lunamon sighs, shaking its head. "If you insist… I'll start from the beginning."

"Sixteen years ago, digimon started appearing in this world, through a small breach in between the Digital World and this one. Most of these 'bio-emergences' were centered in Japan, where the main breach was located, and most of them were of weaker and smaller digimon, so I doubt you'd know of them."

"It's all news to me," she says, eyes wide in shock and amazement. "I-I'd only heard of rumors."

"Huh. Well, eventually, through human meddling, the breach between worlds became bigger, able to bring larger and more destructive digimon through it."

Lunamon's expression turns bashful, and it scratches its fringe nervously.

"Admittedly… most of the destructive digimon were sent by the Sovereign… B-But that's because they thought that digimon could become powerful through defeating humans!"

Camille's face contorts in anger, and her hands shake at the thought of working with some group like that, but before she can scream at Lunamon to leave her at once, it interrupts her.

"Let me finish, please!" the digimon insists, and Camille sighs deeply, trying to expel her anger. Her therapist's vice follows her, chastising her for categorizing people in black and white again. That she's being too judgemental, that she needs to hear with an open mind. "The reason why the powerful digimon were sent to attack humans and become stronger, was because the Sovereign wanted to defeat the D-Reaper!"

Anger leaves Camille like air rushing out of a balloon, with shock replacing it. It's a weak excuse, but she'll try to be forgiving. The D-Reaper attacks was sixteen years ago, maybe they've changed?

"The D-Reaper?"

"Yes!" Lunamon nods. "And besides, the digimon were defeated before they could kill anyone. Anyways, the enlarged breach posed a greater problem to this world than the digimon sent through it."

"The breach allowed the D-Reaper to emerge in the real world, and wreak havoc on humans. Are you aware of the D-Reaper?"

"Yes," she nods, a feeling of dread stirring in her stomach. "It made news where I lived. I was… about eleven-years-old, and I..."

( _she remembers watching, eyes wide and glued to the television as a sea of red flowed through tokyo, remembers screaming at the ticker as it read 'MULTIPLE CONFIRMED DEATHS IN TOKYO ATTACK", a howling, painful noise that burned through her lungs as she_ _ **remembered it all**_

" _...appa?"_

…

" _-it's no use jujun, no use, no use... oh no no no no non non_ _ **non**_ … _!"_

 _..._ )

Camille comes back into reality as her chopsticks clatter to the table. She's hunching over the table, panting, sweat running down her face, her shaking hands covering her eyes, digging painfully into her skin, and her glasses are visibly fogging up. Subconsciously, her fingers countdown from five, and at 'zero', she straightens up, grabs a cloth from her bag, and wipes down her glasses before putting them on again. She takes a few consecutive deep breaths, in and out, in and out, before she feels she's calm enough. Lunamon is staring at her with concern in its eyes, and Camille feels a pang of disgust at herself for having an attack in the middle of a public place.

"Sorry," she says, trying to sound as unemotional as possible. "I wasn't there… but the D-Reaper… it brings back some traumatic shit for me."

"Alright," it says, but Camille can tell that it's not entirely sure that she's okay. "The D-Reaper was eventually defeated by a group of humans and their digimon."

"Wait," she interrupts, her eyes widening. "I thought it was the Japanese government? It… wasn't?"

"Well, it was like… one-fourth those 'government' folks, three-fourths us digimon!" Lunamon says triumphantly, and Camille has to rub the base of her nose. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Camille nods, before smiling a little. "Just… I don't think you have any idea of the sheer insanity of what you just said. It's like… saying the Iraq War was fought by faries. I just… just have to wrap my head around it."

"Well it's the truth, so jot it down!" Lunamon shouts, visibly indignant. The rest of the cafeteria turns to look over at the two, and the digimon waits for them to look away, before continuing. "I don't know why you haven't seen that digimon helped destroy the D-Reaper!"

"I don't know!" she hisses, between bites of sushi. "Maybe those government people wanted to keep digimon a secret because of how destructive you said they were, to prevent hysteria or something! All I know, is the D-Reaper was shown, and the news here said it was some 'government task force' that defeated it! Who knows, man…"

"Anyways, as I was saying before you so cruelly interrupted me," it continues, and Camille rolls her eyes. "The D-Reaper was defeated, but, the breach was sealed up, and all the digimon went with it! Therefore, the worlds were separate from each other once again."

"But, you're here. So they aren't."

"That's true. The worlds were separate for about sixteen years," Lunamon explains, taking a sip of chai tea. "But, in that span of time, humans created more and more technology, and expanded the Internet more and more…"

"And?" Camille asks, wiping away some rice from her cheek.

"As more and more expansions were made," Lunamon says, crossing its arms. "The walls between the worlds were whittled away, slowly but surely…"

"And now, there are barely any walls left."

A chill runs up Camille's spine at Lunamon's tone.

"Digimon _will_ start bio-emerging again, and humans have the technology now to be able to reproduce or create digivices, similar to yours," it says, very grim. Camille grabs the grey-and-orange device from her pocket, and looks at it. "Some of them will either wreak havoc, or find partners that will make them wreak havoc, and it could end with both worlds being destroyed."

"That's where you come in."

"Me?" Camille asks, pointing a finger towards herself. Distantly, she can hear 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' start up, and it takes her best restraint not to burst into song.

"Yes, you! The humans and digimon who saved your world and ours from the D-Reaper are still around, but they only live in one part of your very very big world!" Lunamon exclaims, banging its chopsticks for emphasis. "If something happens elsewhere, in this city perhaps, they can't reach it in time!"

"So, the Sovereign chose ten people, gathered ten digimon to be their partners, created ten digivices, and ten bracelets, like the one on your wrist."

"But, why me?" Camille asks, fidgeting her fingers. "I'm just some Inuk girl with two shitty jobs and frequent panic attacks, what's so interesting about me?"

"The Sovereign told us that our partners were chosen because of their strong moral conviction. Someone who knew right from wrong, and could stand up for it."

Camille opens her mouth to object, but she frowns, and rests her chin on her hand, thinking a bit about her actions before. Lunamon did have somewhat of a point.

"O...kay…" she says slowly, unsurely. "I… I guess that's right. But, why the bracelet?"

"The bracelet turns you into a human-data hybrid, called a reaper," Lunamon says bluntly, and Camille feels like she's gonna fall over. "Normally, humans can't do shit to digimon, but as a reaper, you can!"

"Like… what kind of transformation?" Camille asks, horror and curiosity battling it out in her stomach. "Like… Power Rangers transformation, or like… Sailor Moon transformation?"

Lunamon stares blankly at her, a scowl on its little face.

"I have no fuckin' idea what you're talking about."

"Whatever," she says quickly, face beet red. Shaking her head, she grabs a dorayaki and opens its plastic packaging. "So, now what?"

"Well," Lunamon says, leaning back in its chair. "We go back to that park, and you try out transforming into a reaper!"

So, Camille found herself standing in the middle of Rittenhouse Square, standing around aimlessly, when she could be sleeping or playing video games. The park is almost completely pitch black, and Camille can barely see her own hands. Frustration and exhaustion churn in her head, and she blinks blearily at what she thinks is Lunamon.

"Okay," she snaps, crossing her arms. "I'm fucking exhausted, we're here in Rittenhouse, and I'm about to transform in front of the five homeless guys sleeping on the benches by the path…"

"What do I do next? Do I shout 'DIGIMENTAL UP' at the top of my lungs, like some sort of asshole? Do I strike some sort of pose? Please, fuckin' tell me!"

"No need to act like such a bitch, Jesus," it growls, and Camille sees it walk over to her. "Just hold your arms out in front of you, to start."

Camille complies, swinging her arms out in front of her. She's not sure if it's just her mind playing tricks on her, but she sees the gemstone glow bright orange.

"Good, good, good," Lunamon says, nodding to itself. "Now, say 'Sovereign, grant me your power!', and say it loud!"

"Oh, so I **am** going to humiliate myself in the middle of Center City!" she sniffs, clenching and unclenching her fingers. Lunamon groans loudly. "Okay, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it…"

 _Time to get this over with_ , she thinks to herself.

 _Hopefully, it's quick..._

"Sovereign, grant me your power!" Camille shouts, feeling her face burn painfully.

The transformation starts instantly, with Camille's body glowing a bright orange, and all her clothing dissolving away. Mournfully, she watches her shoes disappear, thinking about the two-hundred dollars she blew on them. The Sovereign better pay her back for her lost clothing, she grumbles. After her clothing disappears - basically causing Camille to stand nude in _the middle of Center City_ \- she suddenly feels a surge of confidence surge through her. Like she could fist-fight a lion, or something stupid like that.

Some sort of ribbon (computer data?) wraps around Camille's body, neck, legs and arms, and before the pain of something wrapping tight around her flesh sets in, it's gone. Replacing it, is a long, black dress that reaches to her ankles, with some sort of stockings underneath, long, puffy sleeves ending in bright white cuffs, and white gloves covering her hands. She feels long strands of hair whip around her face, before there's an abrupt, painful pulling sensation, and then Camille feels two masses of hair against her back.

The transformation ends, and Camille finds words that she would _never_ usually say bubbling their way out of her mouth.

"I am the Sovereign's warrior, the Reaper Jasper!"

There's complete silence in the park as Camille tries to gather her bearings, the sensation of her… pigtails (?) moving in the wind and tight, constricting gloves on her hands frightening her. She feels her hands begin to shake, and her stomach flops painfully, sending a pang of nausea.

Then, a raspy voice of an older man, shouts from another part of Rittenhouse Square, about a foot away:

"No one fucking cares who you are, lady!"


End file.
